Figures and Tables

A thesis may include tables, figures, photographs, musical examples, charts, graphs, line drawings, maps, and other illustrative materials. In addition, a thesis may include statements such as definitions, corollaries, lemmas, theorems, propositions, and schemes. For the following discussion about numbering and placement, these items will be called figures.

All figures must fit within the minimum 1-inch margins. Theses with any material extending beyond these margins will not be accepted for deposit.

Figures must be numbered consecutively throughout the entire thesis. Students may choose from one of two options:

A straight sequence (1, 2, 3, etc.). (Using this method, continue figure numbering from the previous chapter. Do not re-start the numbering at 1.)

The decimal system (1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 2.1, 2.2, etc.), in which the first digit corresponds to the chapter number and the digit after the decimal point is the figure number within the chapter. (Do not number figures by section (e.g., 1.2.1, 1.3.2, or the like. Using this method, figures in Appendix A, B, C, and so forth would be numbered A.1, A.2, B.1, B.2, C.1 and so on.)

Each type of content (figures, tables, etc.) should be numbered independently.

Figure captions may be single-spaced and are not required to be set in the same font style or size as that of the main text.

Figure captions should appear on the same page as the figure to which they refer.

Figure Placement

Figures should not be placed out of the order in which they are numbered.

If figures are grouped at the end of a chapter or the main text, each figure may be placed on a separate page.

Multiple figures may be placed on the same page as long as doing so does not compromise their legibility.

Figures grouped at the end of a chapter are considered a section, the first page of which should display the appropriate section heading (i.e., “Figures”, “Tables”, “Figures and Tables”, etc.).

Figures grouped at the end of the main text are considered a chapter, the first page of which should display the appropriate chapter title (i.e., “Figures”, “Tables”, “Figures and Tables”, etc.).

Do not add figure callouts (i.e., <place Figure 2.1 about here>) anywhere in the thesis.

Multiple-Page Figures

Every page containing part of a multiple-page figure must include at least an abbreviated figure label such as “Figure 2.5 (cont.)”.

The figure caption is only required to appear once; an abbreviated label may be used on subsequent pages.

Rotated Figures

Page numbers, headings, captions, and titles may be rotated with the figure.

Color Figures

Use of color in the thesis is acceptable. However, because theses may be converted to black-and-white if they are archived on microfilm or partially reproduced on a black-and-white printer, labels, symbols and other data within figures should be identified through other means than the use of color.